Dead Plec +Nitrate Spike

[stoneagedinosaur]

Hi all

Just came home to find one of my female BN plecos dead and quite well savaged by the tankmates. Have removed her and gave her a porcelain send off.

Stats are (in mg/l) Ammonia 0.1 - NitrIte 0 - NitrAte between 50 and 75 - PH 8.2 - temp 26[sup]o[/sup]

Question is... is the spike causing the death of the pleco or as a result of the dead pleco?

Planning to do a 50% water change tomorrow and hope that the plants will absorb the excess. Will then check tomorrow evening. Is this a good plan?

 

[stoneagedinosaur]

Bump?

 

[Althamon]

Looking at your stats you are near the limits on your ph so I would hazard a guess that it is too alkaline as plecs can tolerate up to 7.6 normally so that's possibly your cause and I would advise a large water change ASAP, to prevent others passing on due to chemical burns.

What is your tap water ph?

The dead plec would have contributed to an increase in ammonia as technically it was another food source therefore more waste and because the nitrate eating bacteria take longer to reproduce that would have caused the spike.

 

[fluttermoth]

Just FWIW, you shouldn't really flush dead fish; they might be carrying a parasite or disease that could spread. It's better to put them in the bin, or compost heap, or bury them.

 

[stoneagedinosaur]

oops - thanks fluttermouth The tap water PH is 7.5 although we're getting a new watermain tomorrow

PH hasn't altered greatly and I've had the plecos a couple of years - so I guess they are kind of used to it.

 

[Althamon]

I dont see how your ph is so high then, unless you have an alkaline substrate as it really shouldn't be over 8 and it should be close to 7.5

 

[stoneagedinosaur]

always been the same! As it is steady, I see no reason to change it - fish seem okay. Barely lost a fish since the beginning (pleco and neon tetra disease excepted)